The Hockey Writers have made it clear in their weekly rumor mill that the Buffalo Sabres will not pursue an upper-echelon goaltender.
Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News was the first one to report that the Buffalo Sabres would not be targeting a high-end goaltender in free agency. He reasoned that the organization simply is not the top one for most pending unrestricted free agents, so instead the Sabres will utilize bargain deals to entice a goaltender in the second tier to come to town.
Here is what Lysowski had to say about the subject:
"In free agency, the Sabres are more likely to target bargain options such as Casey DeSmith, Mikko Koskinen, Eric Comrie and Kevin Lankinen. – via Buffalo News."
Lysowski also noted potential trade options for the Sabres. Names like Jonathan Quick, John Gibson, Semyon Varlamov, James Reimer, and Adin Hill were listed as potential targets.
How will the Buffalo Sabres address their goaltender situation?
Last week, I wrote about how re-signing Dustin Tokarski, Craig Anderson, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen could work for the team. In this scenario, Tokarski would drop to the AHL while Anderson would temporarily start in the net before handing the reins to Luukkonen.
But that’s just one scenario. It looks as though Luukkonen will definitely be back, but the status of the other two remain unknown. Especially Anderson, who could easily retire before the following season begins.
Most likely, we will see the Sabres sign a serviceable goaltender as a one-year stopgap. Breaking down the goaltenders listed above, Koskinen was mentioned in the Lysowski’s article, however, he has since ended up in Switzerland following the Oilers’ season.
Lankinin is younger, but his GAA sat at 3.5 and his save percentage dipped to 0.891. Plus, Sabres fans know him well, thanks to the part he played when Tage Thompson scored his game-winning goal last March in the Windy City.
If there is one player I like more than most of the others in this batch, it’s Eric Comrie. Yes, he has just 28 games of NHL experience and he’s already a journeyman. But his save percentage hit 0.920 last season and he allowed a career-low 2.58 GAA. Comrie finished with a record of 10-5-1 for the Winnipeg Jets.
DeSmith is my favorite option. He has a career 0.915 save percentage while allowing an average of 2.67 goals per game. He is more consistent and experienced than Comrie. And at 31, he could easily give the Sabres at least five seasons in the net if needed.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)